Records: Principal Delayed Removing Accused Teacher

Plans For Lawsuits Have Mounted In The Case Of Holly Hendricks, Charged In The Abuse Of Students.

March 15, 1997|By Susan Jacobson of The Sentinel Staff

KISSIMMEE — Thacker Avenue Elementary School Principal Charles Bryan was aware of teacher Holly Hendricks' mistreatment of students before her arrest but did not take the proper steps to have her removed from the classroom, according to interviews and court documents released this week.

Meanwhile, two more of Hendricks' former students have notified the school district that they plan to sue because of her actions.

Hendricks, 26, who resigned last month as the school district was in the process of firing her, faces trial in May on two counts of aggravated child abuse.

The former teacher of emotionally disabled students was arrested Oct. 3 on charges of taping a 6-year-old boy's mouth shut, imprisoning him in a box for up to 10 minutes and holding him over a garbage can while threatening to throw him out.

Newly released documents say that resource teacher Robin Conly was so upset by Hendricks' behavior that she documented it and alerted Bryan.

''Mr. Bryan said yes, he was aware of all these things and he was taking the steps needed as is their School Board policy,'' Persyns wrote in a report. ''Bryan said one of the steps was observation, and he was required to follow certain guidelines.''

Three days later, the report states, Conly told Persyns that she had called the district office and spoken with the person in charge of the emotionally handicapped program. She was told that Bryan had already reported the problem and ''steps were being taken.''

But School Board Attorney Larry Brown acknowledged that the principal mishandled the inquiry and should have notified the district's personnel director and the superintendent. Brown said district leaders were unaware of the allegations until after Hendricks' arrest.

''I think that Charlie should have reported it sooner than he did,'' Brown said. ''When there's a reasonable basis to conclude that a child has been treated inappropriately, the administrator should not keep that information to himself.''

Brown said he was helping develop better training for administrators and new reporting procedures.

Allegations against Hendricks, who had been teaching for about a year, have spawned four potential lawsuits against the district. As required by law, the students' parents have announced their intention to sue and could file papers within six months.

The latest notices involve boys who were 8 years old when they were in Hendricks' class last fall. One contends that the teacher taped his mouth shut and tied his hands behind his back. The other says she pinched his face and threatened to break his tooth.

Witnesses told police that Hendricks threatened to cut the same student's tongue off with scissors as punishment for telling his mother about the boy in the box. They said the teacher also disciplined the same student by making him stand all morning and through lunch, forcing him to stand in the sun and grabbing his jaw and yelling at him as he cried, records state.

The boy's mother told Conly and Bryan on Sept. 27 that he was having nightmares and refusing to go to school, reports reveal.

Conly and others also say Hendricks called students ''crazy'' and ''goon'' and told at least one to get to the end of the line for photographs because ''you're going to break the camera.''

In her statement to police, teacher assistant Catherine Daniel wrote, ''I don't need to have a degree to know the way she handles her class is wrong and hateful!!!''

Documents also called into question Hendricks' mental stability. Witness statements show that she revealed gashes on her wrists to another teacher in January 1996 and confided that she had been institutionalized after a suicide attempt.

Papers related to one of the planned lawsuits say that Bryan became aware of problems with Hendricks that month. She was again hospitalized in August 1996, records indicate.

''For the School Board to have a teacher on board there dealing with mentally dysfunctional children who is so mentally dysfunctional herself is appalling,'' said Russell Troutman, a lawyer for the four parents who plan to sue.

Hendricks' attorney, Stephen Jewett, could not be reached Friday.

Other complaints against Hendricks contend that she:

Struck a student on the head with a book.

Threatened to feed students to Bodine, a ''hungry'' boa constrictor, while the class was on its way to the room where the snake was kept.

Joan Tritchel, a teacher aide with 15 years of special education experience, wrote in a statement to police, ''In all my years, I have never seen a classroom run like this.''